Ad-hoc powerline networking has been addressed by a number of prior solutions including PowerLine Modem USB plug-and-play, IP ARP/RARP protocols, BOOTP and IP DHCP. A particular disadvantage of the IP-based solutions is the complexity in configuring IP subnets and managing the hop-count for broadcast/multicasts. PowerLine Modem has the disadvantage in that proximity is governed by cable routing and not easily isolated to a collection of devices, for example in one room or an area, as opposed to devices in the same office or home.
At present when a powerline modem is used, the signal is propagated on the powerlines until a transformer is reached. This typically means that the signal is propagated throughout the household and potentially into neighboring apartments/offices, thus not providing a particularly secure communications network. Finally, the USB plug-and-play has similar features but devices connected to the USB system either require additional power cables or are limited in power consumption.